Ian H Mackay
About Ian H Mackay
Ian Mackay spent his working career as a university lecturer in property economics and portfolio management in South Africa and Canada. After retirement he volunteered in flag protocol for the Vancouver 2010 & London 2012 Olympic Games, and the Pan American Games in Toronto in 2015. He travels the globe extensively with his wife Diane, and they still enjoy tent camping & hiking in the wilderness. He has published a number of non-fiction books on Travelling, Green Value, the history of his Scottish ancestral homestead, and WW II. During the Covid-19 to Covid-22 pandemic he became intrigued by the pre-colonial history of prolific elephant hunter and explorer Henry Hartley (1815-1876) and the character of this 1820 English settler and southern African pioneer
Book by Ian
It has been fascinating to read the history of Henry Hartley by Ian Mackay.
My wife is the great great granddaughter of Hartley. Her grandmother, Henrietta Hartley, was Hartley’s granddaughter (daughter of his son Thomas, I believe) who married her grandfather Michael Hayes at Thornhill in 1891 (as stated in the family bible from that time that we have in our possession). They moved to Rhodesia and farmed in the Marandellas region (I assume after Thornhill farm had been burned down by the British). My wife’s father was their fourteenth and youngest offspring who was born on the farm and raised by his sisters.
Ian mentions some of Hartley’s descendants, one of whom, Simon, still lives in the Magaliesberg area, and this information might be of interest to them.
Thanks for the feedback, Jonathan
The family in SA are aware of the book.
best wishes
Anne
Thanks Anne. The family history I have provided was not mentioned in, and is probably beyond the scope of, Ian’s book. I was hoping that some way could be found to pass the information on to Simon Hartley or any other descendant of Henry Hartley (with whom Ian has been in contact) who might be interested.
A few more details. The family history we have available is that Henrietta was the daughter of Thomas John Hartley (Henry Hartley’s second son) and Emily (nee Maloney, Henry Hartley’s step daughter whose mother was Henry’s third wife Mary). The name Maloney suggests Irish heritage, and it’s interesting to note that Henrietta’s husband, Michael Hayes, was a Catholic Irishman. A correction to my earlier comment: Henrietta Hartley married Michael Hayes at Thorndale, not Thornhill.
Passing on this information, if at all possible, would be very much appreciated,
With kind regards
Jonathan
Dear Jonathan. Thank you for the feedback from your historic connections to my published biography on Henry Hartley (1815 – 1876)
Henry Hartley made such a positive contribution to Southern-African exploration and Anglo-Boer-Ndebele human relationships, notwithstanding shooting so many elephants for their valuable ivory, and near-fatally being stabbed in the throat by a rare blue duiker that he tried to cuddle and keep as a pet!
Even the contents of a family bible from that period have now come to the fore. I would love to hear more of his history from your original source
Ian, thank you for your work on this book. I recently started to trace my family’s history and found that Henry is my 4th Great Grandfather, as my Grandfather was Edwin L. Hartley from Frederick’s line. I look forward to reading through the book and learning more about my family’s roots and this incredibly interesting man.